Words Dept.: entry

I’ve just got back from Bolton, where Unite Against Fascism have organised a counter-protest to a demonstration by the English Defence League in the town centre. I’m making a film about someone on the UAF side, so I was there as an observer.

It was my first time at a protest of this sort and it started quite amicably before getting a little bit unpredictable later on. There was some heavy-handedness on the police side. Its strategy of entering the square, arresting UAF leaders and moving a line of officers forward in an attempt to pen anti-fascist protesters into a small area seemed over the top. It struck me that the police were happy for the UAF to remain in Victoria Square but as soon as they started to march, they felt the need to crack down.

I also found it odd that the police had split the town centre into two, with a kind of Berlin Wall type arrangement running down across Victoria Square. Predictably, neither side was ever going to pay much attention to this and, at about 11am, the UAF lot marched off towards Knowsley Street, in the opposite direction from the blockade. I’m not entirely sure what happened after that but the police formed a line, there was a lot of pushing and shoving, and the UAF group got split in two, with a second group forming on Old Hall Street.

Around the same time, a number of coaches arrived and the group in the square swelled. The police moved officers into the square, which was seen by the UAF lot as an aggressive encroachment into an area of peaceful protest (I’m inclined to agree with them). The police then arrested a number of UAF leaders, which of course didn’t go down very well at all. The riot uniforms and dogs soon appeared.

I saw quite a lot of people getting dragged off by police, including a number of bespectacled women who, to be perfectly honest, didn’t look even slightly threatening. An old guy of about 80, clearly a pacifist who was holding a sign imploring British troops to leave Afghanistan, was bundled to the ground by an advancing plod (image, right).

We saw some smoke bombs and then, ludicrously, found ourselves on the other side of the police line at the northern side of the square, looking back at the anti-fascist protesters. It struck me at this point that there was a bit of pointless posturing going on. One minute I was on the protesters’ side of the line, the next minute I was on the other. I couldn’t work out the point of this police front line, which was made up of riot police and dogs, since there was nothing but other UAF and media people on the other side of it. Around this time I saw a young blonde police woman in full riot gear laughing her head off. Perhaps she found it strange, too.

After hanging around a bit longer we decided to leave. The subject of the film (I’d best not name him just now) had left after his mate got arrested and a couple of his friends sustained injuries. Police claim there were 2,000 EDL supporters and 1,500 anti-fascists in Bolton today. I would estimate that there were more anti-fascists (I’m not an expert on protests, as I say, but I’ve been to music festivals and football matches, and I know what a thousand people looks like). The only EDL group I saw numbered less than half a dozen numbskulls waving St George flags – although it could be that the bulk of the group had assembled elsewhere.

I’ve previously been a bit sceptical about UAF protests and it’s tempting to argue that if you just ignore the EDL they will eventually go away. On the other hand, why should racists be allowed to parade through the streets unchallenged? Either way, town centre businesses will have taken a big hit today. There isn’t a shop open and, away from the protest, it felt like a ghost town.